The Friend of your Friend is your?
by The V is for Vendetta
Summary: Commander Shepard is dead and Garrus Vakarian has built a team to clean up the streets of Omega. Almost loosing his life, Garrus gets help from an unknown ally who seems to know everything about the late Commander Shepard. What secrets will Garrus uncover?


**A/N: Alright so this is my first fanfiction so advice is always welcome and go easy! Wasn't actually planning on writing anything but alas, here we are... Just had too many thoughts brewing in my mind so I had to let them out some how. If people actually do take an inetrest in this, I would love to continue it!**

**Oh, also I don't own any of the characters. All Bioware's.**

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CH 1: You're a Pain in the Ass

"Gah! Dammit!" Garrus Vakarian was no stranger to violence and death. Something he did have limited experience with, was _running away _from said violence_. _

"Garrus, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?" _You knew Garm's Blood Pack would be right behind him. Shit, I'm surprised he didn't have his normal guard of at least three Vorcha with him tonight._.._You always were an opportunist, never passing up a chance to correct a wrong. Just like Shepard. _Garrus almost stopped running as the thought, without his permission, permeated his mind. _No. Shepard would have thought things through, she would have had a plan. _If she had still been alive, Garrus imagined Shepard would have scolded him for taking on the Krogan merely on a whim. She would have insisted on waiting for a better opportunity, one where Garrus wasn't in his damn civvies with nothing but a pistol. Shepard no doubt would have also pointed out that he was blatantly disregarding his own life. But he just didn't care anymore.

After Shepard's funeral and watching the Council bend over backwards to deny the Reaper's existence, he thought he could do some real good on Omega without having to worry about all the bureaucratic bullshit. For a while he ran on his own doing what little damage he could to local gangs, slavers, and merc groups. It was only when he started gathering squad members that he began to hit the big times: The Eclipse, Blue Suns, and Blood Pack. In fact, all his good deeds had earned him the name 'Archangel' among the locals. Butler always teased him about his alias and was constantly saying he was the 'Batman of Omega'. Must have been a famous human hero with an odd name. Damn what he wouldn't give to be able to call Butler, Sensat, Mierin, or anybody to pull his ass out of the fire right now. In his fight with Garm he had managed to break his Omni tool and in return broke Garm's arm and leg although he seemed to make a quick recovery. _Damn Krogans and their regenerative abilities._

Garrus was brought out of his thoughts when a not so distant Batarian barked an order "There's the bastard! Don't let him out of the alley!"

A wave of Vorcha poured into the alley and were taking pot-shots from the tops of the apartment buildings that surrounded the alley. There had to be dozens of the creepy little bastards on his six and many, _many_ more that he hadn't yet seen.

"Well so much for getting a good nights sleep" Garrus huffed in annoyance. He didn't know how long he had been running, but every gasp of air burned in his throat and his legs had begun to ache.

_You need a game plan. Now. _He was running out of alley fast and would soon be on the street in under a minute. While Garrus had become familiar with the streets of Omega over the months he had lived there but he had never been in the 10th district. The only reason he was there was because Sidonis tipped him off to some possible red sand deals in the area. He had known it was Blood Pack territory but he knew he could handle himself. _And its not like they would know I was Archangel anyways. _Garrus had been careful to hide his identity from anyone not on his team but the fact that the general public didn't know who he was didn't comfort him much. Everyone on Omega had a weapon and everyone on Omega was likely to be looking for a fight no matter who they (or you for that matter) were_. _

_Spirits, Garrus your thoughts wander quickly. Back to the task at hand. Get away from Garm and his buddies without oh I don't know...DYING_? Garrus quickly regained focus and mulled over his options. He saw an intact fire escape in another alley across the street but probably could easily break into the building itself and climb up the stairs without having to worry about being as exposed. He could also continue down either side of the street but that was more of a gamble. Vorcha were likely to be dug into every street surrounding him just waiting to use their shotguns and grenade launchers_. Whoever thought it was a good idea giving Vorcha fucking grenade launchers was definitely not aware they tended to have tempers_. So it was decided Garrus would fight his way to the top of what looked like a project and determine just how bad things were from the rooftop.

Leaving the cover of the alley Garrus darted across the street looking both ways for Vorcha he knew would be there. Surely enough they were hot on his trail shooting and shoving past anyone in their way. With the momentum Garrus had gathered from running, he easily broke past the door and headed for the stairs at the end of the hall. _Too bad elevators aren't known to work reliably in this part of Omega. Sure could use the break but getting trapped in an elevator isn't exactly on my to-do list for tonight_. As he continued climbing the stairs he was glad for his long legs skipping several steps at a time. Even so, he could hear the Vorcha hissing with frustration as they began the climb. One shouted to him almost spitting,

"You cannot run. We kill you! Even if Garm wants you alive_!" Oh well thats not good_.

Garrus shot back, "Huh I didn't know Vorcha could be so impatient...If you were going to follow me around town like the creepy shit you are, you could have bought me a drink first."

With that he picked up the pace flying up another three floors until finally he was on the roof. Not seeing any Bloodpack on the roof he just started running forward jumping from building to building. As soon as the Vorcha emerged from the building they began laying down fire making Garrus slightly uncomfortable. He quickly ducked behind an air conditioner unit pulling out his pistol. He looked up to determine the situation spotting one of the little fuckers with a flamethrower and was determined to use it to his advantage. He fired one well placed shot at the gas tank hearing the unmistakable_ 'sssssssss'_ informing him he had hit his target. Garrus then came up a second time hitting the gas tank again, when his good aim was rewarded with a spectacular show of flames engulfing six or seven Vorcha. Not taking any more time to admire his work, Garrus quickly got up and began running again.

But he was tired and starting to make mistakes. While jumping to the next rooftop, he stumbled hitting the side of the next building dangling over the edge. While he quickly pulled himself up his ribs now hurt like hell_. Damn I think I cracked a few ribs. Didn't realize just how fast I was going_. In the midst of his pain, Garrus realized the Vorcha had climbed up the fire escape of the next building, cutting him off. He cursed under his breath and sharply turned right almost skidding to the ground if not for the wall he braced himself on. As he continued to run, hot pain seared through his left shoulder and he found one of the Vorcha that had been in his way had actually hit its mark_. Now if only I had time to stop and congratulate him. Hell, maybe I should recruit him...a vorcha who can aim is damn rare_. Garrus was instantly pulled out of his thoughts by the pain throbbing as his shoulder protested being flung upwards as he jumped to another rooftop. It was then he noticed the Vorcha spraying bullets into the side of every building Garrus crossed, undoubtedly killing innocents in their homes and businesses_. Garm and his Blood Pack will pay for this and more_. The Archangel inside of Garrus continued down this path of thought laying out an elaborate way to torture Garm. With this new found anger and conviction, Garrus spun around to shoot at the Vorcha. Sadly, this earned him another shot to the thigh and as soon as he realized his mistake, Garrus subdued his anger and started to run (as fast as he could with a limp) towards a door on the roof. As he got closer the door swung open or more accuratley was kicked open, with an angry-no_ annoyed _and _heavily_ armed masked woman standing between him and solace.

Before he knew what was going on, the woman pulled out two Tempests and yelled, "GET DOWN, NOW." Garrus without hesitation obliged her and laid down.

He would have ducked, but Turians weren't very good at that and Garrus wasn't risking getting shot for a third time that night. He heard her Tempests fire and swatted a couple heat sinks off of him before they burned through his clothes. After what felt like years, she stopped and Garrus looked behind him to see blood and what he was sure was bits of Vorcha and Batarian everywhere. He slowly turned back to face his apparent savior_, for all I know she wants me dead just as much as the Blood Pack_ and looked into her face. Admittedly he couldn't make out her face since his vision was so fuzzy having lost as much blood as he did so he instead settling with questioning her when she started speaking.

"Well, what a fine fucking mess."

She seemed to place her Tempests back in their holsters and pull out what looked to be Medi-gel. She applied some to herself and then literally slapped some on Garrus' wounds causing him to become irritated. _Why did she help me if she was going to be such a bitch about it? _Garrus decided now was good a time as any to get to those questions.

"Why the hell did you-"

He was suddenly cut off as she began to speak with venom in her voice, "Vakarian, you're a real pain in the ass."

Before he could ask how the hell she knew who he was and why she had bothered if he was such an ass, he blacked out, the last thing he saw being the bottom of her boot.

* * *

"Hey, Sidonis what did you say Garrus went off to do?" Sidonis stopped cleaning his Mattock and turned towards the Volus Erash who sat on the couch playing absent mindedly with his Omni Tool.

"Well, he had been itching for a fight, so after we went to the bar I told him about that red sand dealer Thralog Mirki'it in the 10th district." It had been a couple of hours maybe one more than Sidonis thought Garrus would need to finish the asshole off but he wasn't worried. He was a big boy who knew how to take care of himself.

As if reading his thoughts, Monteague spoke up, "He's been gone a while though. Sidonis, at any point did you think it would be a bad idea to send a buzzed Garrus out for a damn fight? Hell, wasn't he still wearing his civvies? Why didn't you go with him?"

Before Sidonis could tell Monteague to stop being so damn concerned, Erash spoke again obviously trying to avoid a squabble, "Relax, Garrus would have called us if he needed help. Besides, he didn't touch his drink the whole night he just sat there brooding and swimming in his own thoughts."

Suddenly Mierin, Grundan, Melanis, Ripper, Sensat, Vortash, Butler, and Weaver turned to Erash all with a puzzled and concerned look on their faces. "What, didn't any of you idiots notice? Ah, let me guess you fools were all too drunk to notice? I swear, one day you will all be drunk in some pisshole and you're going to get killed for blabbing about Archangel"

Though the changes in Garrus were subtle, they were there, he was starting to brood around more and more. When they had all joined up Garrus had been a man of morals willing to bend the law to do what was right. Now, he was different. Something in him was missing and he wasn't just 'bending the law' anymore. On their last mission while taking down the slaver Kron Harga, Garrus didn't kill him immediately opting to shoot him in all his extremities after beating him; As if that wasn't enough, he simply propped the guy up against an explosive crate and shot it, letting Harga burn. It was then that the squad realized Garrus had taken a turn for the worse. He was being turned into the very thing he had come to Omega to eliminate.

Butler suddenly rose putting his jacket on. "I'm going to go look for Garrus and Sidonis, I know Garrus can take care of himself but something doesn't feel right. Send me the approximate location of the red sand dealer."

Then Butler was gone leaving the rest of the squad in silence. "I feel bad for the bastard you sent Garrus off to kill." Monteague had been lifting weights but had turned back to Sidonis.

"He can be real brutal when his temper is out of line."

Sidonis let out a sigh and decided to share a thought with his squad mates. "Yeah, I know Monteague but it only really gets bad when its a slaver at the other end of his gun..."

Melanis, sharp as ever, spoke what Sidonis had been alluding to, "Do you think it has to do with Shepard?"

The Salarian stared at him emotionless as if trying to get to the root of the problem with a malfunctioning rifle mod. "Wasn't she on Mindoir when those slavers destroyed the colony?"

Sidonis knew she wasn't just _there _but had apparently grown up there and had lost her entire family or atleast thats what Garrus had told him. Sidonis knew he had little in way of courtesy but he decided not to confirm the information, Garrus had shared it with him and him alone so if the rest of the squad didn't know, there was a reason so he kept his mouth shut. He was also tired of talking about Garrus like they were a bunch of old gossiping women. Besides Sidonis had his own damn problems so why was no one feigning over his mental stability? _Because Garrus is king of the fucking castle, always been that way. _Even if Sidonis did manage to put his own team together he couldn't lead and hell, _following_ was hard at times_. I'm a shit Turian with issues just like Garrus isn't that sweet.._ Sidonis noticed Weaver and Vortash get up to head for their cots when Sensat shoved them back down the stairs quickly reading something on his Omni Tool.

"Butler just pinged me and it looks like Garrus tangled with Garm based off of Blood Pack comm chatter. Good news is they didn't get Garrus because someone else stepped in and saved his ass. Bad news is he was seen being dragged away by that someone else. Don't know if they're a friendly, sadly."

Sidonis already knew they weren't friendly; the only people nice to Garrus were his squad and the bartender when he got his credit chit after they had been out for a night of drinking. Vortash was the first to spring into motion probably because he was Salarian, they never wasted time if they could help it.

"Fuck, let's hurry and go find Garrus before this shit gets too far out of hand."

Everyone except Sidonis immediatley rose to put on their armor and gather their gear grabbing as many heat sinks as each of them could manage to carry. Sidonis on the other, lazily rose from his perch and grabbed his guns. _Time to go save Garrus the unmovable center of everyone's existence! _While he trusted and respected Garrus, it didn't mean he liked running around doing his bidding let alone saving his ass.

"Garrus is gonna owe me a fuckton of beer for this shit."


End file.
